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CMDB Identification and Reconciliation

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CMDB Identification and Reconciliation

The Identification and Reconciliation module provides a centralized framework for
identifying and reconciling data from different data sources. It helps maintain the integrity of
the CMDB when multiple data sources such as Discovery, import sets, and manual entries are used to
create and update CI records.

The use of multiple sources increases the risk of introducing inconsistencies through
duplicate records. To maintain the integrity of the database, it is important to correctly
identify CIs and services so that new records are created only for CIs that are truly new to the
CMDB. Identification and Reconciliation helps you prevent duplication of CI records, reconcile
CI attributes, reclassify CIs, and allow only authoritative data sources to update the CMDB.

Domain
Separation

The identification process is domain aware. If the domain separation plugin has been
activated, then identification processes only those CIs in which the domain ID is identical to
the domain of the currently logged on user. If duplicate CIs exists across domains (including
parent and child domains), then those CIs will not be considered duplicate CIs because their
domain IDs do not match.

You can activate the Activate Configuration Management For Scoped Apps (CMDB) plugin (com.snc.cmdb.scoped) to allow a scoped app in scripts to use the prefix 'sn_cmdb.IdentificationEngine.<method>' to access identification engine APIs. This plugin does not include demo data and activates related plugins if they are not already active.

You can apply CMDB Identification and Reconciliation processes when Import Sets are used to import CIs into the CMDB. CI identification can prevent duplicate CIs in the CMDB, which Import Sets might otherwise cause.

Reconciliation rules specify which data sources can update a table or a set of table attributes, and they can be defined at the parent and the child table level. Ensure that there is a reconciliation rule for each data source that is authorized to update an attribute - multiple reconciliation rules can exist for the same set of attributes.

When the instance encounters duplicate CIs during identification and reconciliation, it groups each set of duplicate CIs into a de-duplication task for review. Use de-duplication tasks to track the duplicate CIs until they can be resolved. A large number of duplicate CIs might be due to weak identification rules.

During the CI identification process, a CI might need to be reclassified to a different sys_class_name type. By default, CIs are reclassified automatically. If automatic reclassification is disabled, then the CI is not reclassified and the system generates a reclassification task for your review.

Service definitions consist of CI types and relationship types. Service rules metadata define the dependency structure of the CI types and the relationship types in these service definitions, assisting in CI identification and in the construction of business service maps. The Metadata Rules Editor is used to configure and manage service rules metadata.